Peter Obi urges accountants to confront FG on ‘reckless borrowings’.
Mogaji (Hon) Seye Oladejo
The Lagos State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) welcomes Mr. Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State and Labour Party’s perpetual presidential candidate, back from his health-induced break. We sincerely wish him well. However, we must advise him to play to his strengths in politics, as topics bordering on finance, economy, development, and social policy remain his enduring handicap. Venturing helplessly and haplessly into these conversations not only exposes his shallow grasp of issues but could further strain his health.
At a recent event in Lagos, Obi once again sermonized about so-called “reckless government borrowing.” As usual, his intervention was long on clichés and short on substance. Nigerians must not be deceived by these rehearsed soundbites.
First, borrowing is not inherently reckless. What matters is purpose and prudence. Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, borrowing is strategic, tied to critical infrastructure, energy, transportation, and productive sectors. This is the globally accepted practice-even the most advanced economies borrow to fund growth.
Second, Peter Obi has no moral authority to lecture anyone about prudence. Nigerians remember that as governor, he left behind unpaid pensions, collapsing infrastructure, and poor human capital indices. His much-advertised “savings” were idle balances lodged in banks, not real investments that created jobs or improved livelihoods. Ironically, he boasted of investing public funds in breweries-yet today preaches about prudence.
Third, Obi’s name appeared in the Pandora Papers for his offshore accounts and hidden assets, a stain on the very transparency he pretends to embody. For someone who flew around the world in private jets during his campaign while sermonizing about cutting costs, the contradictions are glaring.
Unlike Obi’s motivational-speech politics, President Tinubu is taking bold, necessary steps to reset the economy. Subsidy removal, currency reforms, and targeted borrowing are difficult but inevitable measures to secure Nigeria’s future. This is leadership in action -not empty moralizing.
We therefore urge Mr. Obi, with all due respect, to conserve his health and stick to areas where his talent lies: populist rhetoric, electioneering platitudes, and recycled campaign speeches. On serious matters of finance and governance, he is out of depth and out of place.
In plain terms: Tinubu is building Nigeria’s future, while Obi is busy building soundbites. One is a reformer, the other a motivational speaker. Nigerians know the difference.
As our people say: “he who knows nothing of iron should not enter the blacksmith’s market”.
Mogaji (Hon) Seye Oladejo
Lagos APC Spokesman
